Weaning

If you look on the NHS website it does say 3 meals at 7 months. I thought it would have been later too 😪 my son is currently on 2 meals but they don’t replace his milk, I breastfeed him just before and let him eat however much he wants, which usually isn’t a lot.

My LG has porridge an hour after her morning bottle so usually 11am ish. And then purée around 6pm which is an hour before her last bottle. I’m just going to add another portion of purée at lunch time when she’s 7months, unless I’m brave enough to start BLW instead of purée by then 🤣

Mines been on 3 meals since 6 months but I started weaning at 4.5 months so if you’ve started at 6 months then by 7.5 months he could easily be on 3 meals. He was having first tastes at lunchtime for 3 weeks then I went onto breakfast and lunch and then I added dinner in. He’s now 7 months on 3 meals, 2 snacks and dessert. He was still on 5 bottles a day until I put him onto two meals and he dropped to 4 bottles and then once he went into 3 meals about 2 weeks later he dropped to 3 bottles. I’ve seen the health visitor today and got him weighed and he’s nearly 22lb and she’s happy for him to drop his lunchtime bottles in the next few weeks as he doesn’t really seem interested in it and I can just replace it with a calcium snack like yoghurt or cheese x

@Lauren agree with you. A gradual approach is recommended by specialists. I was told 3 meals going into 9th month. At 6 month 1 meal + all milk feeds, 7 months 2 meals + milk feeds and 8months going into 9th, 3 meals a day + milk. The expert baby dietician said to avoid SNACKS at all costs until your baby is at least 12 months old to avoid excessive weight gain. And stick to water fir as long as possible i.e.avoid juices etc

Just FYI, if he has cmpa, he needs dairy free yogurt, not lactose free, lactose free yogurts are still dairy and contain the proteins that they are allergic to. However, if he didn't react to the yogurt, id have it a guess he's not actually got cmpa. It is massively over diagnosed. Also, with regards to number of meals, so what works for your family. And his milk should reduce himself, but it shouldn't be reduced until about 10 months, if he cuts back too much before then, cut back on the food instead.

@Charlotte yeah it's a bit of a weird one cause he's they classed it as CMPA on his medical files but he just had bad reflux and pains after drinking normal formula, so since he was about 2-3 months he's had lactose free prescribed formula (Nutramigen LLG) and they've said they'll refer us to a dietician for the milk ladder when he's 1. But I wouldn't have said it was an allergy, more of an intolerance as it wasn't really severe. He seemed fine after his yoghurt today. I'll look at dairy free next time though just incase

Thanks all, he's enjoying his purée so far and I'm yet to find anything he doesn't like, he seems to have a lot of interest in food so I probably won't have an issue getting him to 3 meals by the 7-9 months. Think it just overwhelmed me because I was thinking "but we've only just started" and it felt so soon with her saying January😆

My little girl is 6 months has her morning bottle when she gets up and then usually has baby porridge an hour later, then typically has morning nap then afternoon bottle then lunch an hour later and same with evening meal before having her night time bottle before bed. If she appears hungry I offer her melty wafers ect as a snack between she’s gone from 6 bottles a day to about 4 a day now x

I aim for two foods each day tbh. It could be a snack and then a small food item for dinner. Mine had mashed potato tonight and a banana flavoured snack this afternoon. Yesterday it was some yoghurt. Don't stress too much about food yet, they'll do it in their own time and when they want. Make it fun and no pressure for either of you 😊

@Caitlin lactose free formula for cmpa? 🤦‍♀️ Lactose intolerance in babies is EXTREMELY rare, and generally only occurs after a serious illness. I don't understand why doctors continue to get this wrong. Good news that he's been ok with it!

@Charlotte yeah I'm not really sure on it all tbh, it's the only formula he could tolerate though without screaming in pain after drinking and no one ever explained anything to me they just prescribed it after trying him with Gaviscon/Omoperazole etc and said "try this" without actually explaining to me whether they regarded it as an intolerance or allergy etc, and since it worked I just stuck with it. So now we plan to do the milk ladder when he's 1 and see where we go from there I guess🤷🏼‍♀️

@Charlotte it says "Nutramigen 1 is a lactose free, extensively hydrolysed, hypoallergenic formula for the dietary management of infants with mild to moderate cow’s milk allergy." So I guess there's more too it than just the lactose free element🤷🏼‍♀️

The dietician advised me that they expect a baby to be on 3 meals by 8 months old, so that's what I'm aiming for

@Caitlin yes! Hydrolyzed means the proteins have been altered! So good that he reacted so well to the formula change. Definitely watch the yogurts etc going forwards though and go for dairy free :)